Bush the number one threat, South Koreans say

December 27 2002

Many in Seoul say they fear Bush's wrath rather than North Korea's nuclear threat, writes Barbara Demick.

When Lee Jin-ju pauses to think about the nuclear crisis brewing over the Korean peninsula, she knows exactly whom she fears. "George Bush," replies the 22-year-old accounting student without missing a beat. "He's a war maniac."

Ms Lee doesn't like North Korean President Kim Jong-il much either. "But we're not afraid of him. He's a Korean like us. Even if he does get the bomb, he's not going to use it against us."

This is a sentiment echoed by many South Koreans - even some conservatives - and it is complicating US efforts to forge a consensus on North Korea among its allies. There is a tendency, particularly among the young, to shrug off the nuclear showdown as the creation of a hysterical White House. Many South Koreans see their estranged countrymen to the north more as subjects of pity than fear and the Americans less as saviours who defended them against communism than troublemakers.

The news that North Korea was removing surveillance cameras from its nuclear facilities got smaller headlines in South Korea than in the US. The stock market actually went up in mid-October when it was revealed that North Korea was violating its international agreements on its nuclear program. Only in the past two days have the markets shown any jitters and those can be mostly attributed to the potential war on Iraq.

Despite North Korea's actions since October to restart its nuclear program, there is no sense of impending crisis in Seoul. "We don't seriously fear there will be a war, and if there will be, the Americans will start it," said Hyun Ho-sang, a 19-year-old student. ");document.write("

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Han Sung-joo, a former South Korean foreign minister, complains that the government has deliberately kept people ignorant about the danger posed by the North Koreans. "We have a government that is interested in playing down the threat," says Mr Han.

Kim Kyong-won, a former ambassador to the US, says South Koreans do not believe that the North's development of nuclear weapons has anything to do with them.

"They figure that Kim Jong-il loves life too much to start a war that he will surely lose . . . Bush, on the other hand, is an ascetic and a warrior," says Mr Kim. The victory in last week's presidential election of left-of-centre labour lawyer Roh Moo Hyun has emboldened those who favour more independence from the US and has given rise to a mood of giddy nationalism.

A fatal traffic accident in June involving GIs has triggered months of protests against the 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea - the most recent being on Christmas Eve when 1000 people marched in front of the US embassy in Seoul.

Many were rattled by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's comments this week suggesting that America could wage simultaneous military campaigns against Iraq and North Korea. "Bush does not make clear his intentions," said Ha Ji-yun, a 26-year-old civil servant. "That's why we are more afraid of the Americans than the North Koreans."